Your Guide to Record Store Day 2026 in Chicago and Beyond
We’re approaching the middle of April so you know that means it’s time for record collectors’ big day! Record Store Day this Saturday, April 18, is the time when record […]
Review: A “Bad Woman” or a Free Woman, Two New Editions of Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell
It’s the early 20th century in the small Midwestern city of Freeport. Dr. Deane Franklin is a member of its upper crust, but strong-minded enough to occasionally go against the […]
Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor—A Delightful Romp at Chicago Shakespeare
Chicago Shakespeare’s production of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor has a stellar cast in modern environs. This has been a year of Sir John Falstaff getting his comeuppance, as […]
Review: A Bohemian Beauty—A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls, by Adam Morgan
In the back of my mind, I thought someone would surely write about the inestimable Margaret Anderson: editor, bohemian extraordinaire, and LGBTQ+ icon. Some day. And now someone has, Adam […]
Review: Riz Ahmed Brings Shakespeare’s Hamlet to Modern-Day London with a Fitting Temperament and Intensity
If you know anything about me, you should know that I love live theater, and my favorite subsector of live theater is the works of William Shakespeare. But the only […]
Review: Goodman’s Ma Rainey Shows What the World Takes—and What It Breaks
August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a play about music. Yes… about the blues. Yes… about the eponymous singer. And yes… about the heart‑breaking circumstances in which her recordings […]
Review: The Poetics of Remembrance—Warm Numb, Jagged Spiral, Hey Teddy, by Thomas Holton
I’m thinking about the times I’ve seen Thomas Holton perform his poetry. I’ve been lucky enough to see him a handful of times on various open mic and literary stages […]
Preview: Sound & Gravity Returns for Another Year of Amazing Music
This summer’s music festival lineups are shaping up to be pretty fantastic and we can add one more to the list. Back in February Sound & Gravity announced the second […]
Review: Eos Theatre Stages The Trojan Women, a Powerful Play About How Women Suffer in Wartime
The Trojan Women is a play about yesterday that speaks to today. It’s a powerful story about how women suffer in wartime, a commentary on the costs of war and […]
Review: Njioma Grevious, Scott Speck, and the Chicago Philharmonic Perform with “Wow” Moments at the Studebaker Theater
With careful direction by Scott Speck and virtuosic playing from violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious, the Chicago Philharmonic blew away the audience with Camille Saint-Saëns’ violin concerto No. 3 in B-minor. […]
Review: Now Streaming on Hulu, Pizza Movie Is a Drug-Infused Trip Where a Simple Delivery Becomes an Epic Journey
This is a good month for filmmakers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. Later this month sees the release of the terrific dark horror/comedy/love story Over Your Dead Body (an English-language […]
Review: Based on the Video Game Franchise, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Is for SuperFans, but Few Others
If you like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie or its 2023 predecessor (The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the second-biggest film of that year, situated squarely between Barbie and Oppenheimer), then […]